The term ‘greenwashing’ has become widely used in recent years after high-profile accusations against some of the world’s best-known brands, such as Volkswagen, IKEA, Walmart and McDonald’s.
For those who don’t know, it broadly means when companies try to gain commercially by misrepresenting how environmentally friendly their products and supply chains are.
But in years to come, consumers will have to be vigilant for ‘AI washing’ – when businesses exaggerate their technological capabilities and make their products seem more sophisticated than they really are by gratuitous, bandwagon-jumping references to artificial intelligence.
“Businesses involved in AI tend to have high-flying stock prices, and investors see AI as a competitive edge,” said Jarrod Schlesinger of Allianz, a German insurer, which recently published a report warning companies to resist the temptation to engage in AI-washing.
There have been several high-profile claims of AI-washing in the two years since bots such as ChatGPT were launched and gained popularity. Earlier this year, Amazon was accused over what was branded as an AI-based system that billed shoppers at its Fresh and Go shops goods without them having to go to a check-out.
A dispute followed, with tech news outlets reporting that the system needed a 1,000-strong support team to manually check the transactions and Amazon in turn saying the workers were reviewing the system, not the purchases.
Media, too, can be susceptible: In recent weeks outlets from the Associated Press to Euronews have run stories on one of the world’s busiest airports, London Heathrow, trialling an AI-based air traffic control system, a technology already used by Heathrow in 2019, long before the recent advances with AI and the attendant hype.
But with the AI bandwagon rolling, the temptation is there to look for or hype up any possible AI link – even though some research has suggested such AI labelling could be counter-productive and even off-putting.
A recent survey and report by Washington State University found consumers to be wary of buying goods labelled as using the tech. “When AI is mentioned, it tends to lower emotional trust, which in turn decreases purchase intentions,” said Mesut Cicek, WSU marketing lecturer.
And those businesses that play fast and loose with the truth around AI could face lawsuits and regulatory clampdowns, particularly if listed on stock exchanges in the US.
Indeed, companies using AI as a “buzzword” to label products – and to snare investors and consumers – is already a thing, with the Federal Trade Commission in the US saying it will clamp down on businesses that make deceptive AI claims.